KIA Rio 5-Door

Like the exterior, the cabin of the Kia Rio 5-door also has a simple and fuss-free design, which is in need of a thorough makeover with modern elements and features. The cabin here has decent-looking lines and an adequate amount of features to keep the occupants pampered.

The three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel with Y-themed satin silver lower spoke and a simple-looking instrument console with a 3.5-inch LCD MID have been shared with the smaller Picanto. However, the centre console of the Rio 5-door cabin looks more premium, with a larger centre console housing a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, flanked with trapezoidal AC vents having satin silver surrounds. The AC vents on the corners of the dashboard have gloss black inserts, while the lower centre console placed within a separate layer accommodates the panel for the automatic climate control switches.

The spacious all-black cabin of the Kia Rio 5-door is decently armed with features like a sunroof, electrically adjustable and foldable rearview mirrors, push start-stop button, tilt, and telescopic steering wheel with heating function, and cruise control.

The overall design of the Kia Rio 5-door has remained unchanged in recent years, which is the reason why the premium hatchback has started feeling a bit dated in its appeal. However, in terms of proportions, the Rio 5-door is a handsome-looking car with the right set of elements accentuating its larger footprint over the Picanto.

At the front, the Rio 5-door has a sleek fascia, which comprises a slim tiger-nose grille with chrome upper and lower edges. This grille comes with sweptback trapezoidal headlamps, which have projector bulbs fitted within them. Unlike many other modern cars, the headlamps here miss out on daytime running LEDs. The front bumper has vertical triangular housings for the projector fog lamps and a large air dam with rounded edges in the middle.

The side profile of the Kia Rio 5-door looks pretty simple and neat, with almost negligible character curves or creases. The smooth contours for the roof, C-pillar, and wheel arches give the Rio 5-door a smooth appearance, while the 16-inch machined alloy wheels add an element of style. The Rio 5-door comes with body-coloured door handles and rearview mirrors, the latter of which have integrated turn indicators within them.

At the back too, the Kia Rio 5-door has a clean design, comprising of combination tail lamps having LED inserts and a sharp crease running between them across the boot lid. The windscreen, which has a curved design on the sides, comes with a roof-mounted windscreen with a brake light placed above it.

The Kia Rio 5-door offers a plush and comfortable ride quality for an urban driving environment, with the softly-setup Macpherson struts at the front and the torsion beam at the rear doing a fine job in that direction. The Kia Rio 5-door measures 4065mm long, 1725mm wide, and 1460mm tall, while having a wheelbase of 2580mm and a ground clearance of 150mm.

The UAE-spec Kia Rio 5-door is being offered with two different four-cylinder petrol engine options. The smaller 1.4-litre petrol engine develops 100 PS of power and 133 Nm of torque, while the larger 1.6-litre petrol engine produces 123 PS of power and 154 Nm of torque. Both these engine options are available solely with a 6-speed automatic gearbox as standard.

The Kia Rio 5-door is bestowed with an adequate amount of safety features, such as front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD, reverse parking sensors and camera, forward collision avoidance assist, lane departure warning, hill start assist, vehicle stability management and electronic stability control.

While the overall package of the Kia Rio 5-door has begun to show its age in terms of design and features, it is still a balanced car when it comes to performance and ride quality.